Carbon Energy commenced drilling into Panel 2 at the Company’s Bloodwood Creek UCG site as the next step towards commercialising the Company’s UCG operations in Queensland.
Drilling and completion of a well into the cavity will allow the collection of cavity water and core samples to confirm the conditions in the cavity. The data from analysis of the samples will be used to develop a Decommissioning Plan which is required to satisfy the preconditions to commercialisation recommended by the Queensland Government appointed Independent Scientific Panel (ISP) in July 2013.
To satisfy the most stringent environmental standards, Carbon Energy engaged specialist environmental consultants BlueSphere Environmental to develop detailed sampling and analysis specifications, including requirements for both rock core and liquid samples. BlueSphere Environmental will also assist in the analysis of the samples and development of any required remediation program.
Carbon Energy CEO Morné Engelbrecht said “Carbon Energy’s UCG keyseam technology was developed by Australia’s leading scientific agency, the CSIRO, with the goal of developing low emission, safe, and environment friendly ways of better converting coal to energy. Today we commence the next step to demonstrate a commercial UCG operation can be operated in an environmentally safe way through application of Carbon Energy’s UCG keyseam technology.”
Carbon Energy’s trial UCG Panel 2 is located at the Company’s Bloodwood Creek site in the Surat Basin in Queensland. The Panel was decommissioned in October 2012 after almost 2 years of operations and achievement of proof of concept for its keyseam UCG technology.
